Best Friends
by majorfangirl
Summary: Naruto and Ino, best friends who swore not to date each other. In their final year of high school, drama and confusion runs rampant and they just might be falling for each other. NaruIno, SasuTen, NejiSaku, KibaTema,ShikaHina, NaruSaku, JuuIno, NejiTema
1. Prologue

**A/N: A short prologue. I had a better one, but I left it in my locker. -sigh-**

The two were best friends. Nothing had changed between them. Yet.

But as she lay down to get sleep before the first day of school the next day, who could blame her for not knowing what was about to happen? She only expected to see her best friend and her other friends and live life.

She had no idea.

And as his head hit the pillow, he never knew that an agreement would have to be breeched because some things have to change in life.

Neither of them knew anything of this because they thought they would always and forever be best friends.

**A/N: Well, I guess you all know that this has won the poll already, or it will eventually. I can feeeeel it.**


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: Well, this one was going to be the most popular and now I shall write it! I handwrote this chapter in purple ink and I handwrite Naruto's POV (which is in the next chapter) in orange ink!**

Chapter 1

Ino's POV

How did our friendship start? Same way a lot do. We met in kindergarten, and, despite our differences, remained friends for a long time. I made friends along the way with Sakura Haruno, Hinata Hyuuga, Tenten, and Temari, but he was my best friend.

Naruto Uzumaki and Ino Yamanaka, the two hot headed blonde BFFs of Konoha. It was in junior high when people started dating and saying that we were dating. That was when rules had to be made.

"We can never _ever_ date," Naruto had said. "Not only can we not let them win, but it would be _way_ too weird!"

And at that time, I agreed. What else _could_ I do? Plus, I thought it would be weird and you would _never_ catch me letting them win. And, of course, I had started to notice how hot fellow classmate Sasuke Uchiha was!

I was never really serious with him or any other boy, but fantasizing never killed a girl.

Naruto had made his own friends too. He sometimes hung out with Sasuke, but his closest friends were Kiba Inuzuka and Shikamaru Nara. Sasuke preferred the company of Hinata's cousin Neji Hyuuga, Suigetsu, Juugo, and Karin. And Naruto's interest in Sakura confirmed my suspicion that he had a crush on her.

That was when we entered high school. Life still went on normally. The years flew by and, before I knew it, we were seniors. That was when Naruto brought up the agreement, something I had long forgotten.

"Ino, I still stand by what I said in seventh grade," said Naruto, the day before school started back.

"Huh?" What did you say in seventh grade?" I asked, confused.

"That we should never date! And you call _me_ stupid!"

"What number comes after H?" I asked, a smirk forming.

"_Duh_," Naruto said. "I!" Then he realized his mistake. "Shit!"

"Well, regardless of how dumb you are, I still agree! My life could only be improved by not dating you!" I said. We glared at each other for a while. Yep, we were the best of friends.

~X~

Normally I'm not the morning person, but on the first day of my senior year, there I was, up at the butt crack of dawn, digging through my closet and in a conference call with my friends.

"Girls, what do you think I should wear?" I asked them. I wouldn't exactly take their advice to heart, but I knew they would want to feel included in my decision.

They all rattled off what they thought I should wear, but my eyes landed on what I knew would stun the boys, especially Sasuke.

"I'll see you guys at school!" I said before hanging up/ none of them bothered to ask to walk with me because they knew I would want to walk with Naruto. None of them could understand _why_ we were best friends, seeing as we constantly bickered and Naruto was an idiot, but they just decided to go with it.

I peeled off my pajamas and pulled out my clothes. Okay, so maybe they wouldn't _stun_ anyone, like I had told myself, but I would look nice in them. Yawning, I pulled the dark purple tank top over my head, followed by a very low dipping lighter purple shirt.

I was going to wear a purple skirt, but it needed leggings and I didn't know which ones would go better with purple. Black or white? Finally, I just decided to be difference and wore orange s a silent tribute to my BFF.

I looked at myself in the full length mirror. Oh, how good I looked already! Next, I needed my accessories. _This is going to be easy! _I thought. A shell anklet from vacation, my usual silver charm bracelet even if it didn't match, and an orange ring to go with the leggings. Lastly, I slid on my purple chunky flip flops.

The morning transformation was almost complete. I applied the usual makeup and then I could move on to my gorgeous blonde locks. I had to comb them just right and then carefully, _carefully_, tie them up into a ponytail. I looked at myself in the mirror and winked a clear blue eye. Ready to roll!

I quickly ate a Poptart and downed some orange juice- I don't care _what_ Temari says! Coffee _sucks_!- and bolted out the door.

First stop: Naruto's house. After walking with him to school for years, I was pretty much expected at his house.

His mother, Kushina, opened the door and smiled. "Hey, Ino, Naruto'll be right down," she said.

Soon, my goofy blonde friend was at the foot. Spiky hair, blue eyes, and dressed in a plain shirt and jeans. Ugh. He _definitely_ needed to dress better. Not that he ever listened when I said that to him. I would manage some day.

"Ready for school?" I asked.

"Yeah, okay," he said. Naruto wasn't exactly the school type. He's not really as stupid as I've said, but he has a hard time applying himself. If it weren't for my help, he wouldn't have been able to learn good studying habits.

"So, it's finally here," I said. "Seems like just yesterday I had just met you and we were chasing each other around the playground."

"Yeah," said Naruto, a look of found remembering on his face. "I can't believe it's all gonna be _over_ soon, you know? It always seemed like it would never end, but here we are!"

I nodded. This was a very rare moment. We were in perfect agreement. Our arguments were never to be taken seriously. They were always over stupid things and we never went to long without speaking to each other. And it was kind of like a way of showing affection.

"And this year, Sakura's gonna date me!" Naruto said, taking me out of my thoughts.

I rolled my eyes, but dared to dream and shouted, "Sasuke'll date me!"

"Why do all you girls like him? He isn't anything special!"

"You're only saying that because you wish you were as cool as he is," I said teasingly. He started shouting about how that wasn't true and I grinned. Another day with Naruto Uzumaki, just the way it should be.

Truth be told, by that time, Sasuke was just a hot guy at school. I could live without him, but I'd never turn a date down.

And so we reached school. Konoha High looked no different than we were used to and I took it all in, this being my final year and all. My time had come. Soon, I would be leaving to make room for the next set of freshmen and new seniors would take over.

"Ino!" shouted a voice and I turned to see my best friends, save Naruto, standing by the school building.

"See ya, Naruto!" I said before running to see my friends.

Sakura was dressed for success, but also looked cute, Hinata was absolutely adorable, Tenten looked sporty but hot, and Temari was as gorgeous as always. This was our year. We had to show the world how great we were. And get good boyfriends too.

"Do you think Sasuke's going to choose one of us?" Sakura asked.

"With our luck, he'll choose Hinata, the one girl who doesn't even _like_ him," I replied.

"I-I like him just…just not like that," Hinata, the ever shy girl, said.

"I bet he chooses that bitch Karin," said Temari.

"Nope," I said, "she's with Suigetsu!"

"How do you know?" asked Tenten.

"Because, I ran into her on vacation and she told me," I said, happy to be ahead of all my friends.

We continued to talk about whatever came to mind until I heard Naruto shout, "Hey, Ino! If you girls don't stop gossiping, you're going to be late!"

The girls and I made our way to the auditorium where we would get our schedules for the year. First, Tsunade, our principal, would go on a rant about how she was "so happy" to have us back even though it really pained her. Such a forced performance.

After that, I went to retrieve my schedule and looked it over. I turned to compare with my friends, but they had already left, so I went to my locker. I hurried off.

Upon entering the classroom, I looked for my friends. No Sakura. No Tenten. No Temari. No Hinata. But there was Naruto, Kiba, Karin, Juugo, Neji, and Sasuke. Maybe this would be an interesting first hour.

I ended up sitting near Sasuke, but not near enough. He was instead with Neji, Karin, and Juugo. If Suigetsu had been there, Sasuke's entire inner circle would have been there.

I was with Naruto and Kiba. I boredly yawned and braced myself for another year of learning.

Here we go.

**A/N: Well, there's the long awaited first chapter! Whoop whoop!**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: Gasp! An update from majorfangirl? IT MUST BE A MIRACLE!**

Chapter 2

Naruto's POV

I had every class with Ino. Every single one. And second hour had Sakura in it too. Actually, it had all of Ino's friends and Shikamaru, Sasuke, and Neji. I wondered what class Kiba had this hour.

Anyway, you'd think that Ino hadn't seen these girls for years! They wouldn't shut up, not even when someone else was speaking to us! I was finally starting to understand what Shikamaru was always talking about.

Which got me to thinking, what kind of girl _was_ his type? He had made a point of telling me that girls like Ino and Temari definitely _weren't_, which also ruled out Sakura, who was very similar to Ino. He probably wouldn't like Karin, and Tenten would want to be in control of her relationship. Hinata was the kind of person who liked to do what was right and let anyone do anything. But why would he like her? No one liked the quiet type. Finally, my curiosity got the better of me.

"Hey, Shikamaru? What kind of girls do you like?" I asked.

"I already told you," he replied.

"No, you told me what you _didn't_ like!"

"Well, it's the same damn thing. When someone says what they don't like, they must like what's left."

"Whatever," I said, rolling my eyes. _It's Shikamaru's own fault that he'll _never_ find his type if he doesn't have one, _I thought.

My eyes drifted to Sakura, chatting it up with Tenten. Every word she said was smart and her emerald eyes showed her intelligence. Her soft, pink hair seemed so nice and I wanted to be with her so much. Damn, she was hot.

Ino constantly rambled about how good she looked, but I didn't see anything special about her. Sure, she had started developing before Sakura, but Hinata had started developing before _that_, ad look at how popular with boys she was. Ino may have had blonde hair and blue eyes, but those looks were too typical in beautiful girls. Sakura was exotic.

I turned away before she could catch me starting. Last time…..well…let's jus say DON'T let Sakura catch you staring unless she has a crush on you. Not that I could ever see Sasuke giving her a second glance, but she deserved to be put on a pedestal. Sasuke didn't give the girl enough credit.

Okay, I'll admit it. Sasuke was a good friend. We were like brothers. We liked each other well enough, but still argued and had our own friends.

His group was exclusive, consisting of only him, Neji, Juugo, Suigetsu, and Karin, whereas mine consisted of me, Ino, Kiba, Shikamaru, Sakura, Hinata, Temari, Tenten, and occasionally, when they wanted, Temari's two brothers, Gaara and Kankuro.

The first day of school was always a time to just adjust and not worry about anything else. And that's why everyone was talking and hanging out when we were supposed to read the classroom expectations. Or, in Shikamaru's case, trying to fall asleep despite the madness.

"Hey, check this out!" Ino suddenly said. She was holding the school events calendar.

Sakura suddenly got excited, then Tenten and Temari picked up on it. Even Hinata grinned a little. By this time, I was curious as to what was making the girls go crazy, so I pulled the wrinkled calendar out of a binder.

A grin spread across my face. A Back-to-School dance was going to be that Saturday. The perfect excuse to as out Sakura. After all, there was no way Sasuke would _ever_ ask her when he barely even noticed her. Just my perfect luck!

By this time, everyone had noticed what was coming up. A small smirk was on both Sasuke and Neji's faces and the girls were still going insane. The only person who didn't seem happy was Shikamaru, who claimed that dances were too troublesome.

Sasuke stood up from his desk and the girls fell silent. He was going to chose someone and it had better not be Sakura! Sakura and Ino shook excitedly, but he walked past them, then past Hinata. Temari sat, looking cool with a slight smirk on her face, but he passed by her as well.

"Hey, Tenten, you want to go with me" Sasuke asked as all eyes focused on her.

"Sure!" she said, grinning.

Sasuke smirked and sauntered past the disappointed girls. _Don't feel bad, Sakura,_ I thought, _I'll make sure you have a much better time with _me_!_

Ino got pretty sulky, which meant that I would have to listen to her go on about how much better than Tenten she was for a long time. A small price to pay for getting the night with Sakura.

~X~

The tension at our lunch table was unnerving. Ino, Sakura, and Temari were glaring at Tenten, but refusing to say a word. Girls could get _so_ weird over a boy. And not a very good one either!

"I feel like someone's going to attack," Kiba whispered.

"I know. They're getting scary," I said, forgetting to whisper.

Ino and Sakura turned, looking evil.

"G-guys," Hinata said, "maybe…maybe we should all calm down. Let's not…let this…get in the way of our f-friendship."

Thank God for Hinata!

~X~

"Hey, Kiba, who do you want to go with?" I asked during study hall.

"I dunno," he said. "Probably just one of our friends. Like Ino or Hinata."

"I'm not going," Shikamaru said.

"Oh, come on, Shikamaru!" I said. "You've got to come! Dances _are_ lame and girly, but it's a good chance to warm up before prom."

"I'm not going to prom either."

Alright, this guy _had_ to be kidding me.

"Not going to _prom_? Are you _insane_?" Kiba asked. "We're almost eighteen! We have to go to the school's social events or how are we going to be remembered? As complete rejects without girlfriends."

"Yeah," I agreed. "It's not like anyone _wants_ to go. But think of our reputations if we don't!"

"So you're going to _all_ of the school dances," said Kiba.

Shikamaru was starting to look pissed. "Alright, alright, I'll go," he said, finally relenting.

"What girl?"

"I don't know. Hinata, maybe."

"I'm taking Sakura," I said, grinning.

"Ha! Good luck!" Kiba said. "There's no way Sakura would agree to that!"

"But Sasuke asked Tenten! She's got no one else to go with!"

"Not if Neji asks her. Not if Juugo or Shikamaru ask her."

"Well, I'll just have to ask her first!" I said. "Besides, Shikamaru's taking Hinata anyway!"

"I'm probably taking Ino," Kiba said. "I mean, you don't mind, do you? Since she's your best friend and all?"

"Why would I mind? We may be best friends, but I'm not her father."

"Thanks," he said. "I figure I should ask someone I know really well. But not…not Temari."

"She's never going to like you if you don't make a move!" I said. "I mean, Temari's way popular with boys. If you're not careful, she'll meet someone else and you'll always wonder what could have been. Or at least that's what happens in those chick flicks Ino forces me to see whenever Sakura can't make it."

"Why do you guys even care?" asked Shikamaru.

"If you don't understand now, you never will!"

We went on talking until someone told us to shut up. I was starting to act like Ino and her friends!

~X~

"Oh, sure," Ino said after Kiba asked her. "I'd be happy to go with a friend like you!"

I hoped this would delay the "I'm better than Tenten" rant that was going to come soon enough.

It was after school, and I was about to put my plan into action. As soon as I could get Sakura along, I would ask her. And my chance was coming to me.

"Come on, girls, we need to do something," said Ino, and everyone but Tenten, who looked rather confused, nodded.

"Uh…wait up, Sakura!" I called.

"This better not take long, Naruto," she said angrily.

"It won't! I promise!"

"I'll catch up to you girls," Sakura said and they walked away. "So? What do you want?"

"Oh, I….I was just wondering it you wanted to go to the Back-to-School dance with me."

"What?"

"Well, see, I thought since Sasuke was going with Tenten, you'd have no one else you wanted to go with and you might want to go with me." I was definitely rambling.

"Oh, sure," she said, smiling.

"Really?"

"Yeah. See ya!" And she ran off in the direction her friends had gone, pink hair flapping behind her.

I grinned. Me! Me! Sakura Haruno was going with _me_!

**A/N: Squee! Naruto asking Sakura was ADORABLE! Next time, you'll find out what important business Ino and friends had to take care of. Also, there will be many pairings happening other than the mains. Some of them are just dance dates, some one sided, some are just assumed but not real, and some are real, true love.**

**NaruIno, ShikaHina, NejiSaku, SasuTen, KibaTema, NaruSaku, JuuIno, NaruHina, SuiSaku, SasuTema, NaruTen, SuiKarin, KibaIno, SasuSaku, SasuIno, SasuHina, ShikaIno, NejiTema, SasuKarin, KibaHina. That's all I intend to have ever.**


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: WARNING! Very bitchy girls ahead! I've been really lazy about typing this.**

Ino's POV

The girls and I stood outside the library, waiting for Sakura. Whatever Naruto was saying to her had better be important or he would be hearing from me later.

When she finally showed up, it was time to jump into action. There was a certain girl that needed to be punished.

"Alright, Tenten," I said menacingly. "What's the deal with agreeing to go out with Sasuke?"

"Yeah," Sakura said, "you know_, we_ like him too."

"And you never even asked us if it was okay," Temari added.

"But I…did I _need_ permission?" Tenten asked.

"Of _course_ you did! What kind of friend are you?" I asked as we started to circle around her.

"But…would you have given me permission to say yes?" Tenten asked, standing her ground.

"Of course not," said Sakura. "_We_ like Sasuke too, you know."

"Would you have said no if he had asked _you_?"

"Of course not!" Temari said. Hinata was silent. She didn't want to be a part of this and just stood there silently.

"Why then? Why are you doing this to me?" Tenten asked. "You guys aren't being very good friends yourselves!"

I twitched. "You're hardly one to talk, you no good boy stealer!"

We tightened around Tenten, but she shoved her way out and ran through the library. We didn't follow her. She had been punished enough for being such a bad friend and accusing _us_ of being bad friends.

She had no idea what she was messing with.

"So," I said, changing the subject, "what did Naruto want?"

"Oh, he asked me to the dance. I had to agree. Who was I going to go with anyway? Since _she_ stole Sasuke and all," Sakura replied.

I don't know why, but that hit me really weird. Hinata also seemed upset about it. I was pretty sure she had a crush on my best friend. To be honest, I didn't like the idea of Naruto with either of them.

I shook my head. Who was I, his mother? It was up to me who he dated. He was old enough to make those choices for himself. He didn't need me there to help with his decision. Unless…no, definitely not.

"So, it's Hinata and Temari who don't have anyone," I said. This was actually kind of surprising because they were almost as drop dead gorgeous as me.

"You really should be more confident," I said. "No one likes a girl who isn't completely sure of herself and in control."

~X~

That evening, there was work to be done. A huge separation was about to come over our group and I needed as many people as possible on my side. Sakura and Temari were givens and Naruto would follow Sakura and I. Hinata would follow Naruto and Kiba and Shikamaru would probably want to stick with Naruto. I was probably going to win.

It made me feel kind of guilty, but it was Tenten's fault for stealing Sasuke from me. She would have to learn he lesson the hard way, seeing as she had brought it upon herself.

I immediately got online. I needed to send a mass email to everyone at our lunch table saying that we needed to avoid Tenten. She was not to sit with us or speak to us.

To: dattebayo!, cherryblossomchic, hyuuga_Hinata, wishiwassleeping, dogboi, fangrl (get it?)

From: blondebabe

Subject: Very Important

Message: There has been a betrayal amongst us. A certain brunette with buns has betrayed our trust. Yes, I am talking about Tenten. Because of this, we have to avoid her as much as possible. Spread the word.

-Ino Yamanaka

I made sure to write it professionally. By "spread the word" I meant to forward it to as many people as possible. We needed a lot of people to know what was going on with our "friend." (A/N: But, Ino, why would anyone else even CARE?)

~X~ Sasuke's POV

An email appeared in my inbox. It was a forward from Naruto. Probably some lame joke he had gotten and decided to send to me for my amusement. Idiot. I opened it anyway and couldn't believe was I was reading.

They were going to do something that mean to Tenten? I always seemed to across as cold, but _this_. And to the one girl I liked too. It had originated from Ino.

A few minutes later, the same message came up, but from Neji. He had told me that I might want to look into it. He had gotten it from Hinata, who had gotten it from, of course, Ino.

I was going to make tat girl sorry for ever doing this.

First, I sent it to Suigetsu, Juugo, Karin, and Tenten, telling them that there was going to be some friction. I was going to have our own little separation, from that group.

But not until I had written back to Ino.

~X~ Ino's POV

An email popped up in my inbox. From Sasuke! The subject was Extremely Important and in knew this meant that he ad come around and was asking me to the dance instead of Tenten.

_Ino, I can't believe you would do something like this. I know Tenten never would and _that's_ why I like her. You, Sakura, and Temari will never be my type, so stop trying to be. I like Tenten and not bitches like you._

My eyes widened. I had just been cruelly rejected. No, Sasuke _wasn't_ just a guy at school and I really _did_ have feelings for him. And now Tenten had to go an ruin it. Well, I'd show them all. We'd still ignore Tenten, and that was that.

Sasuke thought he could make me stop. Now I only wanted to do this _more! _If Tenten hung out with someone like him then she couldn't be our friend at all!

~X~

So now I had the bonus of being pissed at Sasuke, my old crush. But I had to be over him because of how cruel he was. I couldn't believe I had never seen that before.

I was half-tempted to tell Sakura and Temari, but I figured they needed to discover it on their own.

Hinata was very uncomfortable about all of this and I didn't know why I had even involved her in this. She wouldn't know what to do. She was always too afraid to try and be against one of her friends.

But Naruto was on our side because Sakura and I were forcing him and that changed everything for her. Kiba said he sticking around for loyalty to Naruto and Shikamaru said that it would be too troublesome to have to make friends all over again after he ditched us.

Tenten would have been alone if Sasuke hadn't let her in his little group. It pissed me off to seem him all over a girl he hardly ever spoke to. What a jerk! How could I have _liked_ him?

But a part of me still did because this was Sasuke Uchiha, the hottie that everyone wanted. Not anymore, I kept telling myself. I mean, Kiba and I were going to the dance. Maybe he would become my boyfriend afterwards. Or anyone else, just not a jerk like Sasuke.

Why images of Naruto flashed through my head, I'll never know.

"Look at her, sucking up all the attention," said Sakura, pointing at Tenten who was walking with Sasuke and his friends.

"Do you think they're going to be a couple now?" Temari asked.

"No way. Sasuke's mine."

"Says _you_. He's actually _mine._"

I didn't engage in this conversation. Who needed Sasuke? I'd let them or any other girl have him. How _dare_ he call me a bitch?

The second day of school was still not very serious. We got our text books and the teachers went over our syllabuses. When lunch came, Tenten didn't even bother trying to sit with us. She just sat next to Sasuke while Sakura and Temari glowered at her.

Then Shikamaru dropped a bomb.

"Hey, Hinata, want to come with me this weekend?"

Hinata blushed and looked at Naruto, but he wasn't showing any signs of displeasure. He obviously had no objections to this. After slight hesitation, she stuttered an agreement.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Temari said. When we all looked confused, she said, "Whose the only one at this time who hasn't been asked yet? Me!"

Kiba looked guilty, though, at that time, I didn't know why. Sakura and I laughed while Hinata now looked guilty. She must have really wanted to make it right because she said, "I…I could get Neji to take you."

"Aw, thanks, Hinata," Temari said. "You're a real life saver."

Hinata waved Neji over and Sasuke death glared at him while he walked toward us.

"What do you want? Uchiha'll kill me for conspiring with you guys," Neji said.

"I…I…well, Temari doesn't have a date and…I thought maybe you could g-go with her."

"Oh. Sure," Neji said and walked away. He and Sasuke seemed to be arguing about what he had just done. Not that I was looking at Sasuke. I was just curious about Neji is all.

"I feel bad for him. He's not even allowed to talk to his cousin," I said. "And it's all because of Sasuke."

"No, it's because of us," Naruto said.

"No, it's because of Sasuke."

"_No_, it's _our_ fault."

"_No_, Naruto, it's _Sasuke's_ fault."

"_Ours_."

"Who decided to treat us cruelly?"

"Who excluded Tenten, making him feel like he had to?"

"She was a boy stealer!"

"Guys!" Sakura shouted. "Let's just all say this is Tenten's fault." We all nodded, more to avoid more conflict between Naruto and I. So far, excluding Tenten hadn't done anything at _all._

But it would. Because she had crossed the line and there was no way we would back down first. _Never_.

**A/N: The plot thickens. Finally finished typing this chapter!**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: Fair warning, the POV switching gets worse in this chapter. I also threw in a filler scene because I'm evil, plus no one ever reviews, yet everyone seemed eager for this plot.**

Naruto's POV

Why was Ino making me do this? Making me participate in such a mean thing? They weren't kidding about teenage girls. But Sakura thought it was okay and I didn't want her to cancel on me already.

It was only the second ay of school and things were already going wrong. I felt like girl, but I was marking of the days until the dance. But, hey, I couldn't help being excited because it was the first time Sakura hadn't rejected me in my life.

I had that thought in my mind and I floated through the rest of the day. Before I knew it, it was Thursday morning. I mumbled something under my breath as I switched off the alarm clock.

I got dressed and Ino showed up. Like always we walked together and bickered about random things. We both discussed the upcoming Saturday and had dreams of romance for that night. And we talked about the prom. I told her that I hoped Sakura still liked me then and would want to go with me.

"Really? You really like her?" Ino asked.

"Of course! You know that I've liked her for a long time!" When she looked upset, I said, "Are you jealous? Even after we agreed never to date?"

"No, no, no, NO! I just think that Sakura could do a _lot_ better," Ino said.

"Hey, that's just cruel. Whose side are you on?"

We went on like this for the rest of the walk and we soon reached school. Ino was acting kinda weird, but I shrugged it off. It was probably nothing and I didn't need to worry about it.

Now that day ticked by slowly. Excitement about Sakura made me feel like the day was longer than average. Ino confessed to be in the same boat when I mentioned this to her. And so the day wore on. Nothing seemed to be changing with the Tenten situation. Neither side showed signs of relenting and it was getting seriously old now.

Of course, it wasn't like there was anything _I _could do about it. I was up against girl jealousy. And I knew better than to unleash the wrath of Sakura _and _Ino at the same time. Not pretty.

And we thought the Tenten situation was the worst of our problems. But we were soon faced with something a _lot_ bigger: what we were supposed to ear on Saturday. None of us cared much about that, but now we had to ask the girls exactly what we were supposed to wear.

"Oh, that's easy. Just dress casually. Maybe some nice jeans. It's just the back to school dance, no big deal," Sakura said, giggling at our cluelessness.

"Oh, that easy," Kiba said.

"So," he said when he, Shikamaru, and I had left Sakura, "who actually _has_ a nice pair of jeans?"

Silence.

"Great," Shikamaru said, "now we have to go shopping."

~X~ Kiba's POV

Friday afternoon and we stared around us, confused. We didn't know where to start and we didn't even know what nice _meant_. We could have asked for help from the girls, but did we really want to lose all of our dignity? Did we want to prove that males couldn't shop on their own? No way.

Of course, we were regretting it now as we tried to find a promising store in that confusing place called the Konoha Mall.

"Why do they have to have such weird names? Why can't they just be point blank, like Shirt Store, or something?" Shikamaru asked.

"Damn, Naruto, you're lucky," I said, completely off-topic. "You're the only one who gets to go with your dream girl. I would kill to be in Neji's position."

"I _told_ you, you should have asked Temari instead of Ino! We're all friends, she wouldn't have turned you down," Naruto said. "Plus, Sasuke was already taken! It meant they really didn't have a choice! That's how I got Sakura."

"No, I don't think I could have done that. I have a hard time talking to her in the first place," I replied. It was true, Temari as was any girl I had ever crushed, was my weakness and I didn't stand a chance.

We continued to search through the mall and started to lose hope. By the time we found a promising store, it would be Sunday! When our spirits were almost drained, we saw a girl about our age working in a store. And she wasn't exactly ugly, which brought our spirits back up a bit, except Shikamaru, who didn't give a crap.

Naruto seemed to completely forget his precious Sakura as he slid over to the door she was standing in. Shikamaru grumbled as we followed Naruto up to the girl.

"Hello, my name is Nazuna," she said. (A/N: Path of the Ninja 2 alert!)

"And _my_ name is Naruto!"

"And what's _your_ name?" she asked, checking me out.

"Oh, that's just Kiba," Naruto said with a wave of his hand. What was I, a piece of burnt toast?

"Look, can you just direct us to some jeans?" Shikamaru asked. Naruto and I glared at him.

"Oh, there are jeans in almost every store," Nazuna said. "Including here."

Well, crap.

We bought ourselves some jeans, hoping that they would qualify as "nice" and left.

"Hey, wait!" Nazuna called. "My shift just ended and I'm so bored. How about we all hang out?" She batted her eyelashes at me and I knew right then that I had been flirted at.

"No, we're going home," Shikamaru said and she glared at us and walked away. So we just left without saying another word to my new fangirl.

~X~ Naruto's POV

I was pretty pissed at Shikamaru, but what could I do? I did know that he had screwed up my chances with her, but I had Sakura now.

I heard the phone ring, then dad said it was Ino.

"Hey, Ino."

"Naruto! You'd better listen to me good! Do _not_ ruin this night for Sakura! She's a very close friend and if you embarrass her, I'll _kill_ you!"

"Sheesh, calm _down_, Ino," I said. "Sakura means a lot to me too, you know. I wouldn't do anything mean to her. Give me a little more credit, you've known me for a long time."

"Just make sure," said Ino in a voice that made me shudder. I didn't care _how_ long we had known each other, she _still_ scared the crap out of me!

"Is that all? Because I have better things to do than listen to you threaten me," I said, which set her off.

When she stopped ranting, she said, "Actually, I wanted to ask you if you've seen Tenten lately."

"I thought you hated her."

"Actually, I realized that Sasuke's a no good jerk! And I'm worried about her. What if she gets hurt?"

"Well, then, you'll be there to make it better," I said. Wasn't it simple?

"You don't understand! Heartbreaks are terrible things and can't just be mended by a friendly hug and a pat on the back!"

"Okay. Whatever. See you later, Ino!" I said before hanging up. Sometimes it was best to just end the conversation before she was erally on a role and mad at me for not being able to give her advice.

~X~ Sakura's POV

I smiled to myself as I placed my outfit back in the closet. The next day was going to be a really good day ever if I was stuck with Naruto. One look at me and Sasuke would be mine. Not that Naruto was _that_ bad. He just…wasn't Sasuke.

I felt another burst of rage come to me when I thought of Tenten stealing him from me. She didn't have the right! But still. Ignoring her had gotten kind of tiring for me. She had always been such a good friend and I missed her. We were really going to let Sasuke come between us?

That was when I flashed back to when Ino and I had let him wreck our friendship. We were only in fifth grade. We had been discussing crushes and trying to get Hinata to confess who she had a crush on.

"_Come on, Hinata! _No one _acts like you do and isn't interested in _someone_," Ino said._

"_Yeah, come on, we're your best friends," I said. "We don't keep secrets from you so you shouldn't keep secrets from us!"_

"_W-well then…who do…you guys l-like?" the small, timid girl asked._

"_Sasuke!" Ino and I said in unison. _

A huge fight had followed and we didn't speak to each other for a while. We ended up making up in junior high, which was when we had met Tenten. Temari had transferred in freshmen year.

Now another friendship was coming apart and it was because of Sasuke. Maybe liking him was tearing us apart. Maybe I needed to give up on him once and for all. Yes, that seemed like the only way to keep me out of the fights.

And maybe I could make peace with Tenten. Right now, I needed to let Ino know that I was out of this competition for Sasuke's affection. And lucky for me, she was online.

**cherryblossomchic: Ino, hey.**

**blondebabe: Hey, Sakura!**

**cherryblossomchic: Listen, it's important. I feel like Sasuke is tearing us all apart so I'm out. I'm done with trying to please Sasuke and win his favor and compete against you.**

**blondebabe: He's a jerk. I don't like him either!**

**cherryblossomchic: Good! Now there's just Temari and Tenten. But maybe Temari might be better off with Neji. He could be with her and then Tenten could keep Sasuke.**

**blondebabe: I'm afraid she might get hurt.**

**cherryblossomchic: I know. But it's her choice.**

We both said our goodbyes and signed off.

~X~

Saturday. The day of the dance. As I pulled out my clothes that night, I couldn't help but be excited. It was time.

**A/N: Finally got updated.**

**Hikari: The dance is next time, which means more drama, so review if you want it soon!**

**Me: But they still don't get it until I'm back from vacation! (look at profile for info.)**


	6. Chapter 5

A/N: The dance, the drama, Tenten's going to make a comeback soon. Seeing her being so bullied makes me want to give her a hug!

Hikari: Like that's the only reason.

Me: -blush- Anyway, here's the fifth chapter. By the way, as soon as they started dating, Karin and Suigetsu didn't hate each other or pick on each other anymore. So yeah.

Ino's POV

I pulled on a nice white shirt and a purple skirt. We had decided that we should be plain for the lesser dances, and wilder at something a little bigger. Kiba wasn't going to come get me. We were all just going to meet each other in front of the school.

A thought suddenly struck me. None of us had a car. We were all so used to walking that we didn't think about how we would get there. I sighed. Would I really have to walk to school for this?

However, that seemed to not be the case when, after I stood outside for a moment, a card that had turned down my street stopped. The window rolled down to reveal the face of Juugo. I could hear Suigetsu and Karin in the back seat.

To my surprise, he asked if I needed a ride.

"But won't Sasuke get pissed at you?" I asked.

"What he doesn't know won't hurt him," Juugo replied.

"Yeah," Suigetsu's voice added, "and you need a ride, so what does it matter? He was going to give us all a ride, but decided he wanted to be alone with Tenten. So some on, it won't hurt anyone!"

I finally agreed and sat in the front with Juugo. Karin spoke with me and she turned out to be nice. I wondered why they all hung out with Sasuke in the first place. Especially after he had promised to take them all, then changed his mind. It was lucky Juugo had his own car.

When I reached school, Kiba and Sakura were the only ones there and they stared at me getting out. Just as they were about to bombard me with questions, Neji showed up, driving Hinata, Temari, Shikamaru, and Naruto in his flashy car.

When my friends asked, I casually said that Juugo had offered me a ride and I couldn't refuse.

"Since Sakura lives down the street, I let her ride with me and Hana," Kiba said. Hana was his older sister in college.

"I…I would have invited you, Ino. I…I invited Shikamaru since he's my d-date and told Neji he should bring Temari…then N-Naruto showed up with Shikamaru and one thing led to another…" Hinata said.

"It's fine, it's fine," I said.

We walked in and looked at our fellow classmates enjoying themselves. Sasuke and Tenten were standing together, but not moving. Still, Tenten looked happy to be there, so he hadn't broken her heart yet.

Naruto immediately grabbed Sakura's hand and drug her to the floor. I was surprised to see that she looked really happy. Temari followed suit and drug Neji off. Suigetsu and Karin walked past us and out to the floor.

"Ino?" Kiba asked. I nodded and we soon joined the rest. Shikamaru and Hinata turned out to be a good match for this because Hinata was too shy to dance and Shikamaru couldn't give a crap either way.

To be honest, all I wanted was to be with somebody else. Kiba was nice to me but there was definitely no romance involved and I wanted somebody to be romantic with. So it was obvious that I really didn't want to be there with him but I wasn't going to ditch him.

That was when it happened. Neji didn't see it coming. Hell, none of us did. But Temari definitely meant to plant her lips on his and cause Kiba to turn away from me. _So he likes Temari_, I thought as I watched him breathe heavily.

After a few seconds, though, he calmed down, turned to face me, and smiled at me.

"Ino," he said, moving closer, "maybe I was wrong. Maybe I like a different blonde."

_In coming!_ I shrieked in my head. _There is no way I'm going to be his rebound girl!_

"No, Kiba," I said, "this isn't going to work. I don't like you that way. You don't like me that we, even though every guy should. We should stay away from romance."

"Ino…are you rejecting me?"

"Yeah, I guess I am," I said, smiling wistfully. I turned and walked away. I wasn't planning on leaving, just getting away from Kiba.

"Hey, Ino!" I heard someone call. It was Karin. "Have you seen Suigetsu? I was with him but then he said he'd be right back and I haven't seen him since."

"No, I haven't seen him. But did you see Neji and Temari?"

"I know! Weird, huh? I didn't expect her to be that into him."

"Hey, Karin. Hello, Ino," said Juugo, joining us. I had never expected to be hanging out with them tonight, but a lot of weird things had happened already, so I wasn't too surprised.

"Ino, do you want to dance? Or will your date mind?" Juugo asked.

"Oh, Kiba and I aren't here together anymore," I said. "And I'd love to dance with you."

Juugo took my arm and lead me onto the dance floor and I caught sight of Naruto without Sakura. I briefly wondered where the pinkette had gotten off to.

~X~ Sakura's POV

"Suigetsu, what did you want to tell me?" I asked. Suigetsu had told me that he had something private to tell me and so I we both walked behind the school, where we were now standing.

"Just that I can't resist you anymore."

"What are y-"

Next thing I knew, Suigetsu was kissing me passionately. He moved his tongue to every inch of my mouth and even started to feel me up. I tried to resist, but he just gripped me and kissed me harder.

Why wouldn't he just stop? If he didn't, someone would see us and then what? My worst fears were realized when I heard Karin call for Suigetsu. I guess she saw us because a heard a gasp and her feet go pounding in the opposite direction.

And it got even worse.

"Karin, have you seen Saku-why are you running? Sa-Sakura?!?!" It was Naruto.

"Suigetsu, you bastard!" he shouted and threw a punch at Suigetsu that I barely managed to avoid and soon Suigetsu and Naruto were in a full-on fight.

"Guys, stop!" I shouted. "Don't fight anymore, someone'll see you and then you'll both be in huge trouble!"

"Sakura, you…I thought you came with me," said Naruto, hurt evident in his voice. He turned and walked away and I was left with Suigetsu.

"Now look what you've done!" I punched Suigetsu down and marched back inside. I needed to apologize to Naruto, but he needed to cool down first. Until then, I really just wanted to go home.

~X~ Tenten's POV

_Why did Sasuke have his arms wrapped around Karin?_

I felt tears sting my eyes. First my friends had abandoned me and now Sasuke had found another girl. Why did this have to happen to me? I hadn't really done anything that terrible in my life.

Now my night was completely ruined. I made for the door, wanting only to leave, when Naruto stopped me.

"Tenten? Um, are you alright?"

In between sobs, I filled him in on the details. Naruto listened to me and offered to dance with me for a bit. I agreed and had a good, no _great_ time being in his arms. He told me about his problems with Sakura and I sympathized.

When we went our separate ways, I went to confront Sakura about how she had treated poor Naruto.

"Sakura! Hey, Sakura! I don't care if you guys aren't speaking to me, cuz I'm speaking to you!"

"Huh? What is it, Tenten?" Sakura asked, turning around.

"Why were you making out with Suigetsu when you're here with Naruto?" I asked.

"I didn't! Not on purpose! It was all him! And I'm letting Naruto cool off before I say anything to him," she explained. Then I told her my story.

"Gee, Tenten, I'm sorry. Ino was worried that something like this would happen."

"_Ino_?"

"Yup! She decided that Sasuke was a jerk and was sure that you would end up getting hurt. She was really worried," she said.

"Well, I thought Sasuke was nice but then I saw that and now I'm not so sure," I said.

"Do you need a ride home? I'll see if Kiba's sister will take you home with us," offered Sakura.

'Thanks. I've missed you guys."

She went to go find Kiba.

"Hey, Kiba, do you mind if Tenten rides home with us? Sasuke ditched her and she doesn't have a ride."

"Sure," Kiba said. "Are either of you ready? Because I really want to leave." Sakura and Tenten nodded at the same time. "I'll call Hana then."

Kiba seemed upset about something. Anyway, he took me home first, then Sakura. All in all, what I thought would be a special night had turned out pretty crappy.

~X~ Hinata's POV

_Come on, you can do it_, I thought, moving towards Naruto. I was going to say hi to him and then he might ask me to dance. It was a long shot, but I was willing to try,

I was absolutely frozen with dear. He was right there and I had to talk to him. My heart pounded, a feeling that I was very, very familiar with by that time. I walked towards him, closer and closer. And then I was there.

"Um…N-Naruto?"

**A/N: Don't worry about Sasuke and Tenten's issues, it WILL get worked out later in the story. You're lucky you got to see it this early on, a lot of the final pairs you don't see until way later.**

**Hikari: Now, review, or else!**

**Me: SUNAKO'LL GET YOU!**

**Sunako: Huh?**

**Hikari: No, seriously, review or she won't update.**

**Me: Yeah, really. I'm almost finished writing chapter six, but I won't start typing until I get some reviews. Help me reach my goal of having 40 reviews on this story! Not just this chapter, forty reviews for the whole thing.  
**


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: I've had it on hiatus for a while, but Best Friends is BACK, baby!**

**Hikari: Yay!**

"Huh? What do you want, Hinata?" I asked, looking the timid girl up and down.

"U-uhm…I just wanted to…to see if you were having fun," she said. As usual, I could hardly hear her.

"I guess," I said, slumping. Then I brightened. "Have you seen Tenten?" I asked hopefully.

"Oh…I…I think she left with Kiba."

"Aw, man," I said, slumping again. With Sakura ditching me like that, I had decided to go for Tenten instead. But if she had left with Kiba…oh well. I glanced back at Hinata. Maybe I could make it work with her…never. I had never really liked her that much. She was too weird.

"Well, if you see her, tell her to call me or something," I said and walked away.

"W-wait, Naruto!"

"Huh? What?"

"I…I just wanted to…"

"What?" I asked rather impatiently.

"Nothing…" she whispered and darted away. _I swear_, I thought, _she's one of the weirdest people I have ever met._

Anyway, with a quick scan of the room, I saw Ino and Juugo together and felt a jolt of some kind. Her Kiba was with her, I was fine with it, he wouldn't do anything to Ino, but I didn't know anything about this guy. If he did _anything_ to my best friend…

Not that I cared. I wasn't Ino's dad, I didn't need to look out for her. I was actually getting sick of being alone and grabbed Hinata.

"Hey, Hinata, do you want to dance with me?" I asked.

She turned completely red and nodded. Soon I had my hands arms around her waste and we stepped back and forth, back and forth.

I was actually starting to enjoy myself when Shikamaru came up and said, "Hey, Hinata. Tell Neji I'm going home with Ino and Juugo."

"Alright," she said. "I guess I'll…go…tell…uhm…"

"Okay, come back when you're done," I replied.

She opened her mouth a little, then smiled and ran over to Neji. She was so weird sometimes.

~X~

When Hinata joined me again, I began telling her all about what had happened that night.

"And I really like Sakura, but she seems to be more into Suigetsu since she'd rather make out with him than actually be near me. So now I think I might like Tenten, but I'm not sure how far it'll go. Anyway I usually don't talk to people like this. Heh…"

"N-no, it's…it's fine."

"I wonder why Shikamaru's riding with Ino and Juugo. They seem to want to stay for a long time," I said.

Hinata said nothing looked guilty for some reason.

"Hey, I'm gonna go give Iino a dance before we have to leave," I said, going to find her. We had agreed to always dance with each other at least once at every school dance so that we'd be with someone at least once if we turned out to be complete losers.

"Hey, Ino."

"Oh, hi, Naruto!" she said, looking happy.

"Wanna dance before I leave?"

"Alright. See you in a sec, Juugo."

When we were dancing, I said, "What's all this about?" what could Juugo, or anyone, really, see in _you_?"

"Oh, shut up! I think he likes me and I'm definitely over Sasuke, so why do I need to say no if he wants to be my boyfriend?"

"I don't know, that's a girl problem!" I said.

"I wasn't intending for you to answer, stupid."

"Then maybe you shouldn't say it in question form!" I shot back and we were arguing while we danced.

~X~ Hinata's POV

I made a decision on that day. I was going to give up on Naruto. He had made it clear that he was interested in Sakura and Tenten, not me. I needed to find someone who would be there to love me.

Who had been there for me? All of my friends, but anyone for possible love? Maybe I should just give romance a rest. It felt like I was on the rebound.

But then I saw him. Shikamaru, the boy who had had it in his heart to ask me and not make me come alone. And after he saw me with Naruto, he was upset that I had abandoned him and got a ride with someone else. (A/N: Keep in mind, this was from Hinata's point of view. Shikamaru really was just thinking that he'd rather not stuck alone with two couples.)

I felt really bad about ditching him, and wanted to say sorry, but I was afraid of what he would say to me. I really wasn't in the mood to cry.

~X~ Temari's POV

Being with Neji was great. I mean, what a perfect way to move on after the ordeal with Sasuke and Tenten! I completely believed in love after love and now I was sure th whole school knew that we were together.

Besides, I had been missing Tenten and now there would be nothing keeping us apart as friends. Ino and Sakura could deal with Sasuke issues on their own and Tenten could date him, though I was wondering why I had seen him hugging Karin.

Neji hadn't fought back at all, so I was sure that he liked me as well. We were definitely doing just great as a couple already.

Temari Hyuuga had a nice ring to it. Hey, we were graduating soon, I could dream of the future realistically! Or maybe it was a completely crazy fantasy, but I was fresh in love.

"Temari," Neji finally spoke up, "do you really want to be my girlfriend? Is that what you want?"

"Yes, Neji, I do. I really like you and it'd be nice to give dating each other a try," I replied, almost making myself sick with how sweet I was making myself sound.

"Alright, then I guess I'm your boyfriend," he said. I slammed my lips against his and we were kissing again.

Life with Neji was going to be good.

~X~ Shikamaru's POV

I didn't know why I kept thinking of Hinata. Maybe it was because she was a lot less annoying than Ino, but I was stuck in the back seat of said blonde's new boyfriend's car.

Okay, so she had said nothing about liking Juugo, but even I could tell that she did.

I didn't know why, but thinking of Ino liking Juugo and Hinata liking Naruto seriously ticked me off. I convinced myself that it was irritating that all girls cared about was love.

And it wasn't just the girls. Naruto, Kiba, and Neji too. All of them were either pining away for someone or with someone. Hell, even Sasuke was into Tenten and I had always thought he was asexual.

Ino giggled at something Juugo had said and I wanted to bang my head against the car door. I couldn't wait to get home and just go straight to sleep.

~X~ Naruto's POV

after Ino and I had ended our dance, she left with Juugo and Shikamaru. I sighed as I looked around. After all the fun with Tenten, she was gone. And Sakura...I had dreamed of the day when she would agree to go with me and now it had ended in disaster. Maybe we really weren't meant to be…

Of course, how good was I? Sakura dumps me, so I decide I want Tenten, then when Tenten leaves, I start considering _Hinata_ of all people? I mean, I may as well have tried my chances with a _chair_!

I shook my head. There was no reason for me to be on a girl hunts after my crush for years had broken my heart. Maybe Ino might go guy shopping every time one proved not to be good enough for her and maybe Sakura would make out with someone behind my back, but I was going to let myself move on before I tried another relationship.

I saw Neji and Temari slip outside and wondered if they were ready to leave already. I looked around for Hinata and found her watching Sasuke and Karin slow dance. So really had been cheating on Tenten, the bastard!

"Hinata, come on, let's go!" I shouted and drug her outside, ignoring the squeal when I had jerked her along.

We couldn't find her cousin anywhere we looked. "Well, I thought I saw them go out here, but now I don't see them."

"T-then….did you want to go wait in the car?" Hinata asked.

"Sure, I guess so."

But when we opened the door, we found Neji and Temari…Hinata nearly fainted and I tried not to gag. I'm not even going to describe what I saw because I'm sure you already have a good idea. No, they weren't "getting it on". It wasn't _that_ bad. If it had been, Hinata really would have fainted.

"Well," I said, "I guess that means I'm driving."

**A/N: NaruHina has been crushed for you all! NejiTema is really taking off, and it's not even a final pairing, but hey, it's high school! Drama never ends.**

**Hikari: And you hate Sasuke for breaking Tenten's heart!**

**Me: …maybe…**

**Hikari: And you're going to hate him when they get together!**

**Me: I hate when you're right!**


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: This chapter is probably boring, so if you think it is, the next one will be as well!**

**Hikari: Then why did you write them?**

**Me: Because I'm in my school's musical and training is rigorous! I'm talking rehearsals A LOT! And so I won't have much time for fanfiction, so I'm writing everything fast so that I can add it while I'm too busy to write new stuff!**

**Hikari: Smart!**

**Ino's POV**

I grinned when I woke up on Monday morning. One Sunday, Tenten and I had had a huge talk and finally patched things up. Apparently she wasn't with Sasuke anymore because, like I had thought, he had hurt her.

So, all in all, I was sure that it was going to be a much better week. But maybe that was just because I hadn't gotten any contact information from Juugo and I seriously wanted to see him.

"Come on, Naruto, hurry up!" I shouted up the stairs when I went to go pick him up. I couldn't be detained by his morning slowness, no way, no how.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" he said, walking down the stairs. I tried to ignore the way my heart jumped when I saw him. He looked the same as always, but, for some reason, I wanted to stare at him. I told myself it was because Juugo also had spiky hair.

~X~

You could feel as soon as you walked in, if you ever were to walk into Konoha High that Monday. Tension. It was obvious all day that things were going to be very different and at lunch, any student could figure it out.

Tenten was back at our table for one thing. Over at Sasuke's table, it was just Juugo, Karin, and the jerk king himself because Neji wanted to be with his new girlfriend at our table. Suigetsu, with no where else to go, joined some ex-Sasuke fangirls and their boyfriends.

Instead of his usual seat by Sakura, Naruto was trying to sit further from the rest of us, but was foiled when Tenten sat next to him and Kiba sat at his other side. On Tenten's other side, Shikamaru next to me, next to Sakura, next to Neji, next to Temari, next to Hinata, next to Kiba.

Sakura was sadly looking at Naruto and Tenten happily chattering away, until she got a bright look in her eyes and a devious look on her face. I wondered what she could possibly be thinking about.

Meanwhile, Shikamaru was actually managing to carry on a conversation with me. I was so proud of him.

~X~ Juugo's POV

Shikamaru was talking to Ino and it was bothering me. I thought we had had a lot of fun on Saturday night, but I hadn't been able to figure out why Shikamaru wanted to go home with us. That is, until now.

I didn't know why I was being so insecure. I had liked Ino for a really long time, but seeing her with Naruto (I had been sure that they liked each other at one point in time) had never bothered me very much.

Our table was a lot less interesting without Suigetsu, so I had plenty of time to watch Ino. Sasuke was under the impression that I was watching Neji hang out with the "enemy", even though he didn't need to think of them as such since he and Tenten were no more.

I missed Tenten as much as I did Suigetsu and Neji. She had been fun and had made Sasuke more talkative. Now that she was gone, he was always in a stony silence. He was definitely brooding over losing her.

My thoughts about Tenten and Sasuke were interrupted when Ino laughed about something Shikamaru had said. I really wanted to ask her out, but now I really wasn't sure what would happen if she liked Shikamaru. And right after we had finally gotten to talk.

I shook my head and asked Karin a question to try and liven up the table. She immediate ling started rattling away, which got Sasuke and I out of our girl-missing brooding sessions.

~X~ Sakura's POV

I know just how to get Naruto back if Tenten would agree to it. If she really did like Naruto, like I had originally thought, she wouldn't, but if she was just being friendly then she might go for it.

My plan: get Tenten to infiltrate! If I could get her to go out with Naruto, then I could get her to say good things about me and say the truth about me and that creep Suigetsu.

Yes, it was an amazing plan, so long as Tenten wasn't interested in Naruto. I wasn't so selfish that I would try to use her to get the man she liked. Even if he had liked me first, if they liked each other now, then I would scrap my plan and move on with my life.

Thinking of Suigetsu made me angry all over again. Not only had he hurt Naruto, but he had also hurt Karin and even though I really didn't know her, I could tell that she loved him and it ticked me off that he could be such an ass.

And it pissed me off even more to see him staring longingly at her as if he really missed her. He should have thought about that before he laid one on me.

~X~ Karin's POV

I hate myself more than I hated him. Why? Because I actually _missed_ him! I had never liked him, not before we dated, so of course I wound up in love with him. I should have known that I hated him for a good reason.

But I had given me my heart and, in the end, he had shattered it because he preferred that pink haired bitch. And I was no better because I had run to Sasuke for comfort and Tenten's heart had been broken. Now we had lost her as well as the bastard that I was still in love with after all that had happened.

I must have been stupid to want him back. After all, I deserved better than to be tossed aside like that. But still I managed to miss the idiot. What the hell was wrong with me?

~X~ Tenten's POV

"Do you like Naruto?" After school, Sakura asked me this. I was surprised and curious as to why she wanted to know this.

"Not in the romantic way. Why?"

"I need you to do something for me then, if you're willing."

I listened to the details of her plan and smiled. It seemed like she really liked Naruto, which was odd because she never had before. Plus, I had always thought he and Ino were meant to be.

"Well, okay, I think I'm willing if I can make both of you happy," I said.

"Oh, thank you so much!" Sakura said and pulled me into a huge hug. It was good to be back!

**A/N: Must. Resist. Urge. To. Make. NaruSaku!**

**Hikari: Just tell yourself that Neji needs Sakura!**

**Me: Yes! I have to keep on with the original goal of this fic!**


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N: It has been forever, I know, especially considering I've practically abandoned this account. But I'll still upload this because it is one of my favorite stories and I really want to get it all done.**

**Hikari: So, here is chapter 8!**

Naruto's POV

One day into the new week and I already felt like crap every time Sakura looked at me. At least I had Tenten being nice to me. Otherwise, I would lose my mind!

As I walked home with Ino, we discussed a tradition: our yearly Halloween party. It was only September, but she liked to get started planning early. Me, I'd just throw it all together the day before, but my parties were never that good so I let her handle this one. Every year, we'd have the party in my basement and invite her girlfriends, Kiba, Shikamaru, Neji, and Sasuke. This year, however, Ino wanted to invite Karin and Juugo. That was fine by me, but she said we needed to take Sasuke off the guest list.

Her exact words were:

"Okay, so we're going to invite the usual crowd- you know, Sakura, Tenten, Temari, Hinata, Kiba, Shikamaru, and Neji- but we have to add Karin and Juugo to the list. Oh, and we can't invite Sasuke anymore, because he's a jerk and I don't even know why we ever invited him in the first place. All he ever did was sit alone and ignore us."

"Yeah, but, Ino-"

"But _nothing_, Naruto! After what he did to Tenten-"

"Karin had a hand in that!"

"_Karin_ was heartbroken and seeking comfort and he took it too far! You know exactly what she saw!"

"True, but-"

"What about Tenten? Why aren't you taking her side in this? Do you really think she wants to be at a party with Sasuke after all that?"

Ino did have a point. It was times like now when I was reminded of how well she _got _people. Even if she could be mean sometimes, she still really understood people's feelings. Maybe that's why it was so easy for her to befriend or hurt someone. She had befriended loner Hinata, had helped Sakura come into herself, had made tough Temari soften into one of them, and was always there when someone close to her needed her, when they weren't okay.

I was so distracted by these thoughts that I didn't notice the fist until it whacked me on the back of the head. (Something that Ino had learned from Sakura.)

"Why the hell were you just staring at me?" Ino shouted. "It was creeping me out and I was asking a question!"

I wondered why she had been blushing before I said, "I'm on Tenten's side, definitely. She's a good friend." For the first time, I felt uncomfortable talking about my feelings for other girls with Ino. This was really starting to get weird.

"Good," Ino said softly. "I know you and Sasuke used to be closer, and are like brothers, but he's not like he used to be."

"I know," I said, realizing that I liked her soft, gentle voice.

~X~ Tenten's POV

I was sitting in my room, trying to figure out my Calculus assignment (math is _not_ my forte.), when my phone rang and, without answering, I knew that it would be Sakura.

"Hello?"

"Tenten?" I was right.

"Hey, Sakura. What's up?"

"Well, I was just wondering about Naruto. Do you think that you could try and get together with him before October? Or at least before Halloween? Because I was thinking that we could make our move at Ino's party. You go with him and I'll go alone, then by the end of the night, he'll be in my arms."

I laughed. "Alright, Sakura, whatever you say."

Soon we hung up and I couldn't help but laugh again. I couldn't explain it, but being involved in a crazy scheme with one of my best friends really made my day. I already couldn't wait to "date" Naruto. He was a nice guy and would have been fun to go out with, but I was still trying to get over the pain Sasuke had caused.

I allowed myself to think of Ino's party. I was hoping and praying that the raven haired boy wouldn't be there. But then again, if he was, he would see me with Naruto. Yet, on the other side, he would witness when Sakura the hyper blonde back, so he would think that I had gotten dumped again. I went back to hoping that he wouldn't be there.

I was just confused about Sasuke. I mean, I thought he liked me but he hadn't ever really liked any girls as far as I knew before he asked me out. Really, if I hadn't had my head in the clouds, I probably would have noticed none of it made sense. Of course he had asked me out just to keep up an appearance or not go alone, but hadn't liked me at all!

And as for my feelings for him…did I like him? Oh, of course I did! I had been infatuated with him for years and even though his true self had been revealed to me, I was still infatuated with him and broken hearted.

I decided to get some sleep. After all, the next day I would be moving in n Naruto.

~X~

"Tenten, Tenten! How'd it go? How'd it go?"

"Perfect, Sakura. He was a little surprised, but he was willing enough to go out with me. Not as crazy for me as he was for you, but he was still agreeable. All systems go!"

"Oh, that's great! Now the plan commences!"

**A/N: Review, children. By the way, I get out of school tomorrow, so I'm going to be officially out of junior high! I'm hoping that over the summer I can make some headway on these stories because as long as I have so many on this account, it looms over me…**

**Hikari: And as your Naruto obsession faded, my existence did as well! YOU NEARLY DITCHED YOUR BEST OC!**

**Me: You're not my best, but as long as I have friends wanting to read Naruto, you'll still be a character of mine. Besides, it's fun to mess with you.**

**Vote in the poll on my profile…**

**Wow, I haven't said that in a while!**


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N: A new update for Best Friends. I really want to finish this story, but I've still got lots of stuff to go through to get them to the end of their year.**

**Hikari: Then you'll just have to stop making excuses and WRITE.**

**Me: not my fault Luke is constantly bugging me and I can't!**

Ino's POV

I didn't tell Naruto that I was planning on inviting Suigetsu. He would just get angry and go on about how he couldn't see why I wasn't inviting Sasuke but I was inviting a guy who had been caught making out with Sakura.

Of course, most people would wonder what I was thinking, but I had good reasoning behind this. See, I had noticed to connection Karin had with him, I had noticed how much they meant to each other, and was sure that they missed each other. Guys are idiots and anyone can make a mistake. Suigetsu now realized that Karin meant more to him than another woman could.

So I invited him in hopes that he would show up and reclaim his woman. I had a feeling that he would.

Time flew when you were planning a party. There were so many things to buy and prepare for, so much to decorate and design. When I wasn't working on homework, I was out shopping or in Naruto's basement and I started doing my homework with Naruto just so that when I was done I could get right to work on the party.

And, of course, there was the costume planning. Every year, me and the girls would have coordinated costumes and sometimes we would get the guys to go along with it. Last year, we had done a Wicked/Wizard of Oz theme. I must say, I made an amazing Glinda.

One day when I was decorating, I had the girls over, helping. Naruto was sitting upstairs, watching TV, trying not to come into contact with Sakura. Sometimes Tenten would go up and talk to him, which was really getting on my nerves. I mean, I wasn't jealous that they were talking to each other or anything, we just couldn't come up with ideas without her.

"Tenten, _please_ stay down here. We need to make a decision," I said.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry."

"So, anyone got any ideas?"

"Ooh, let's do Twilight," Sakura said. "Tenten could be Bella, Hinata could be Alice, Ino could be Rosalie, Temari could be Jessica, and I could be Victoria."

"Oh, there is no way in hell I am dressing up like that!" Temari said. "I would rather be hung!" (A/N: Nothing for or against Twilight here, I just gave two characters two different opinions)

"Alright, that idea is out," Tenten said. "How about we be Death Note characters? I could be Sayu, Ino could be Misa, Hinata could be Naomi, and Temari and Sakura could be Halle, Wedy, Linda, or Takada."

"Hey, that's a pretty good idea," I said. "You know what would be even better? Asking Karin to be somebody too!"

~X~

And so we did. Temari ended up going with Halle, Sakura with Takada, and Karin chose Wedy. We tried to convince Naruto to be Linda, but he refused, as he claimed he wouldn't even be a male character.

We didn't know what any of the guys were going to be, but that's probably because they didn't know themselves. They said it was too soon to start planning their costumes.

~X~ Sakura's POV

I was surprised that Karin agreed to dress up with us even though I had been the one caught with her boyfriend. Man, I still hadn't forgiven Suigetsu for pulling something like that. Men were just plain stupid and I saw no reason for us to be so crazy about them.

Speaking of which, Temari offered to have Neji drop me off after we planned our costumes. I thought it was out of her way, since he would drop of Temari, take me home, and then pick Temari back up for a date. (She would get ready in that time.)

However, both Neji and Temari insisted so I finally went along with it. When I found myself alone with Neji, I wished I hadn't. there was something about being alone in a car with a hot guy that made things awkward.

"So, uh, how come you're not taking Hinata home?" I asked, feeling the blood rush to my face when we hit a stoplight and he turned his white eyes on me.

"She's going home with Tenten, to help her n math," he said. _I wonder why I never noticed how smooth his voice sounds…_

_**Whoa, whoa, whoa!**_ Inner Sakura shouted. I wondered why the figment of my imagination had returned after all these years. _**Are we just not realizing how hot he is?**_

_Shut up! _I thought. _He's _Temari's _boyfriend. And, besides, I'm going out with Naruto._

_**No you're not! You're happily single! Naruto's fine with Tenten, so just let them stay together and snag Neji!**_

_I may be happily single, but_ he's not. _And I'm not going to just leave Naruto with Tenten. Believe it or not, I like Naruto!_

_**Yeah, but maybe you might be confusing platonic love with romantic love. Just because he happens to like you doesn't mean he's the only guy you can ever go out with.**_

_Now, you listen here! Just because I think Neji's a bit good looking doesn't mean that I'm in love with him. I think Kiba's hot, but I don't like him that way._

_**When are you gonna stop lying to yourself and admit that there might be some feelings for Neji?**_

_He's _Temari's _boyfriend!_

_**But they had shown no interest in each other at all. She just randomly hooked up with him. There **_can't _**be anything romantic there.**_

I let out a frustrated groan and Neji turned to me. "Are you alright, Sakura?" he asked.

"O-oh, yeah, I'm fine."

We road in an awkward silence for a while until I said, "Oh, there's my house!" He stopped the car and I got out.

"Thank you for the ride," I said.

"Anytime," he replied.

_**Is it just me or did he look sad to see you go?**_

I didn't respond because I felt like I had seen it too.

**A/N: Hey, what do you guys think of this idea: doing a reading of it and putting it on youtube. I'd hold auditions for characters if I could get enough interest.**

**Hikari: If you think this is a good idea, please review saying so. Hey, wait, you need to review one way or another!**

**Me: And, for lack of updates, blame my apprentice Luke! He's ten, he's ADHD, he's blonde, and, oh, is he annoying! Also blame Jenny for taking me places. She's making me have fun again!**


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N: Hey, dudes. It's been a while. I'm a big old high school student now. Rawr. Anyway, I've been kinda busy, but I figured I owed you guys an update.**

**Hikari: This chapter is the half way point! :D Rejoice!**

I guess you could say me and Tenten were dating. I mean, we went out a few times and didn't go out with anyone else. We didn't kiss or anything, but sometimes when she hugged me, I hugged her back. She was nice and I really liked her, but it just didn't feel right. Of course, I didn't really understand it anyway, so I ignored that.

Anyway, since Tenten went out with me, I asked her to go to go with me to the party.

"But, wait, isn't the part in your basement?" she asked. "Shouldn't I just come on my own and hang out with you?"

"No, I'll come get you. Juugo's taking Ino even though it's her party. You and Juugo are just gonna be there before anyone else."

"Alright. Hey! Since I'm gonna be Sayu, you should be Matsuda!"

"No! There is _no way_ I am doing anything that will alter my hair color in any way, and no wigs either!"

"Fine, fine, be Mello. You've got the same hair color."

"My hair isn't long enough."

"If you come it down, with all those spikes, I bet it would be. Besides, even if it isn't, it's just a little Halloween party and no one will care."

"Alright," I said, finally relenting. And that's how I got roped into cosplaying Mello.

~X~ Neji's POV

Sakura Haruno. Her name kept reappearing in my mind. She was interesting; always had been. I had nearly asked her to the dance, but then Naruto did and Hinata got me to ask Temari and I ended up with a girlfriend.

That car ride with Sakura made me remember back when I was in elementary school. One day, I woke up and decided that I had a crush on her. I kept trying to get her attention by bullying Hinata, but that didn't earn me anything other than a beating from her and Ino. After that, I decided I didn't like her anymore.

_Why am I thinking of that now? I mean, it's not like I feel that way again or anything, I am going out with Temari after all._

_Even if it was sort of against my will…_

_Oh, forget it_, I told myself and dropped the thought completely.

~X~ Hinata's POV

I didn't know why, but I was sort of hoping Shikamaru would ask me to Ino's party. However, I wasn't surprised when he didn't. after all, I did sort of ditch him at the dance for Naruto.

Instead, Kiba asked me. I agreed because even though I wasn't romantically interested in him, he was one of my friends and it was better than going alone. I asked him who he was going to dress up as and he didn't have a clue, so I began helping him get the things needed to dress as Raye Penbar.

As Ino furiously planned and decorated and aided us with our costumes, Sakura walked around with a devious smile on her face for some reason I couldn't determine, Temari told Neji of various characters he could be, all of which he refused, though I had a feeling that he would be giving in soon.

Shikamaru claimed that he wasn't dressing up as anyone, Ino had been plotting to get Suigetsu to be Aiber, and, altogether, everyone was really excited about the upcoming party.

~X~ Kiba's POV

Did I ever mention that I'm an idiot? A total and complete idiot? Because I am. I just _had_ to ask Ino to the dance and miss my changes with Temari, I just had to try and make things work with Ino rather than tell Temari how I felt and kept her from getting with Neji.

And I just _had_ too keep on with it. Instead of telling her, I went and asked out Hinata, whom I did not harbor any romantic feelings for. I agreed to dress up as her character's fiancé and continue acting as if I were not interested in Temari t all, even though I really wanted to be going to that party with her.

Not that Hinata wasn't sweet or anything. She really was, but she just wasn't Temari. In fact, she was practically Temari's opposite. But she had chosen Neji and I hadn't asked her first.

And I was stuck dressing up as some character I didn't even remember from the series until Hinata made me rewatch the episodes he was in.

So, did I tell you that I'm an idiot?

~X~ Juugo's POV

I did it. I asked Ino even though I had been sure that Shikamaru was interested in her and she agreed. She was going to be at Naruto's decorating, then had to go home to get ready. I would then pick her up and take her back to the party. And somehow she had convinced me to be the Light to her Misa.

It was worth it, though, because I would still be there with Ino and maybe would get the chance to tell her that I liked her.

One thing I noticed was that Ino had invited me, Karin, and even Suigetsu, but she had neglected to invite Sasuke. I didn't know if this was a mistake or if she really just didn't want him there.

"Sasuke," I said to him one day, "does Ino have a reason for not inviting you to her party?"

"Yes. I called her a bitch and broke Tenten's heart," he said casually as if both of these were nothing even though we both knew how important Tenten was to him. And it really bugged me that he would say something like that about Ino.

"Why did you call her a bitch?"

"Because she was being one. Now she's not as bad, but a few weeks ago…"

"You know," I said, "I really like Ino. I asked her to the party and I'm thinking of telling her how I feel." It was the first time I had told Sasuke how I felt about the beautiful blonde.

"Really? I always thought she was Naruto's woman, but then he started going out with Sakura."  
"Sasuke," I said hesitantly, "Naruto and Sakura broke up. He's…he's with Tenten now."

Sasuke paused. There was a brief look of shock, so brief that many people would think they had imagined it, before he recovered quickly. "Oh, that's good. I hope that they're happy together."

He was lying.

**A/N: When this chapter was originally written, I was going through a HUGE Death Note phase, as one can probably tell.**

**Hikari: Review. NAO.**


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